HP Photosmart R707 Review

Operation and controls

At a glance the R707 might look like nothing more than a stylish point-and-shoot camera, but once you start to dig a little deeper you'll find a real wealth of features designed to help the novice snapper, as well as a few manual controls thrown in for the more experienced user. As with most compact cameras with limited real estate available for external controls the majority of the more advanced features are accessed via the extensive on-screen menu system. The most commonly accessed functions - macro mode, flash mode and self-timer - get their own buttons, as do HP's now standard instant sharing and printing features.

Rear of camera

The main controls are ranged around the top and right sides of the 1.5-inch LCD. These offer quick access to macro mode, manual focus, self-timer and continuous shooting (burst) mode, plus buttons for switching between playback and record modes and HP's instant share and instant print functions. The camera is turned on and off with a slider button next to the optical viewfinder.

The right-hand side of the rear of the camera is home to a small zoom rocker switch that falls perfectly under the thumb, and a four-way controller surrounding the Menu/OK button. Pressing this once brings up the on-screen menus, which are navigated using the directional 'arrow' keys. Another press of the central button confirms menu selections.

Top of camera

On the top of the camera you'll find two shutter releases - the main one is for taking stills, the smaller one to the left is a 'stop/start' button for recording movies. Over the lens is another small button that cycles through the R707's various shooting modes.